Duke Professor Kathy Rudy says being
vegetarian or vegan should not be made requirements for animal rights advocacy.
"Every living thing on this planet is food for something else,
and we have to wake up to that fact," said Rudy, author of the new book "Loving
Animals" and an associate professor of women's studies. She was interviewed Sept. 22 during
Duke's weekly "Office Hours" webcast. Watch the broadcast here.
"I'm stepping on a lot of toes because there is animal
welfare and animal protection -- and yes, those are important pieces," she
said. "But they're often overshadowed by the discourse of rights which argues
the only way to do this is to extend the catalog of human rights into the realm
of some animals, and that agenda squeezes out a lot of people in the general
public from participating in animal advocacy."